In this guide
The twin cities have less warehouse stock than Lahore or Karachi, and a lot more space hiding in basements, annexes and the back halves of commercial buildings. If you own some of it and want to rent out storage space in Islamabad or Rawalpindi to a tenant who'll stay a long while, this guide is for you. We run one building serving both cities, and we take partner space when ours runs short or a customer needs something we can't offer.
Here's what kind of space suits us, what doesn't, and how the arrangement works.
Where storage space sits in the twin cities
Islamabad was planned, so industry was put in its own sectors. Rawalpindi grew, so its storage is wherever trade put it. The two feel very different.
The I-9 and I-10 industrial areas
These are Islamabad's main industrial sectors, with sheds, workshops and godowns on proper plots and roads built for commercial vehicles. A covered shed here with a guard and cameras is close to what we want. Some owners have a bay left over after a business shrank or moved, and that's the sort of space we're asking about.
Basements and annexes
A lot of storage space in Islamabad is underground: the basement of a commercial plaza, the annexe behind a house that was once used as an office, a lower ground floor nobody quite found a use for. Some of these are dry and well built. Some are not. We'll come to damp in a moment, because it's the thing that decides most basements.
Rawalpindi
Along the GT Road and out on the Peshawar Road side there are godowns, sheds and warehouses of every age and size. Some have wide gates and room for a truck. Others are a shutter on a busy road where stopping to load is a fight with traffic. We judge each building on its own, not the road it's on.
Why stays here run long
The twin cities have a customer that other cities don't have in the same numbers: people on postings. Government officers transferred between cities and abroad, staff at embassies and international organisations rotating in and out, families following a posting for two or three years. Add the families leaving the country for work or study, which is our biggest customer group everywhere, and you get a lot of households that need their furniture kept somewhere safe for six months to two years.
That's useful to you as an owner. A posting has an end date, and until it arrives the goods don't move. No daily loading, no traders in and out, just a quiet bay earning every month and the occasional visit when someone needs a box out.
Dry winters, wet monsoons and basement damp
Most of what we store is wooden furniture and upholstery. Sofas, beds, wardrobes, mattresses, dining sets. Islamabad's winters are dry, which suits wood. The monsoon is another matter: heavy rain in July and August, water running off the Margalla side, and ground that stays wet for days.
That's when a basement shows what it's really like. Damp creeps up walls, a musty smell settles in, and anything upholstered starts to grow mould. A basement that's dry in December can be wet in August. If yours has ever taken water, had a tide mark on the wall, or needed a pump, tell us. It may still work with proper waterproofing, dehumidifying or raised platforms, but we'd rather hear it from you than find it on the visit.
Ground floor and above ground space doesn't have this problem to the same degree, though a roof still has to hold through the monsoon without leaks.
What it takes to rent out storage space in Islamabad with us
These are hard requirements in every city. They're the same standard our own building meets, and we can't relax them for a partner.
| Requirement | A basement or annexe passes if | It fails if |
|---|---|---|
| Cameras round the clock | Entrances and the floor are covered and footage is kept for a useful number of days | The only camera is on the plaza's front door |
| Guard overnight | Someone is on site every night | The building is locked and empty after the shops close |
| Access on 48 hours' notice | A customer can get in on any day, weekends included | The plaza shuts on Sundays and nobody holds a key |
| Real address and map pin | A driver can find the exact entrance | The basement entrance is round the back and unmarked |
| Dry, covered, pest controlled | Walls stay dry through monsoon, air moves, fumigation is on a schedule | There's damp on the walls or water on the floor after rain |
| Photographs | At least five recent ones, taken by you | Old photos, or someone else's building |
The security side is covered in more depth in storage facility security standards.
Things that help
Gated entry, fire detection and extinguishers, separate lockable units or open floor we can bay off, good ceiling height, racking, ground floor access or a lift that takes a wardrobe, a loading dock or ramp, labour on site, power backup, and for yards, hard standing with room for a trailer to turn. For a basement, a ramp or a goods lift matters a lot: carrying a sofa down a narrow staircase is how sofas get damaged. None of these is a reason to say no on its own.
What we can't take
We don't do cold storage, so a chilled unit isn't a fit. We also can't sit beside anything hazardous or flammable, food stock, or anything needing a fixed temperature. A basement shared with a generator and its fuel drums is a problem we'd need solved first.
Setting your rate
We agree rates per facility, so there's no number on this page. Think in square feet per month for the space our goods occupy. Be clear about what's in it: the guard, cameras, fumigation, electricity, any dehumidifying in a basement. Then your terms: deposit, minimum term, notice and handling charges.
A long stay from a family on a posting is worth more to you than a higher rate that sits empty between lets. And please give us your real figure. We add our own margin before the customer sees a price, so quoting high only makes your space the one that loses out.
How applying works
- Four fields: name, phone, city and the kind of space. Under a minute.
- The dossier: address and map pin, the space (units, open or covered area, ceiling height), security, your rate and terms, at least five photos and a short declaration that they're real.
- A phone call.
- A visit. Someone walks the building, and nothing is agreed before then.
- Rates and terms in writing, signed by both sides.
- One or two customers to start, then steady flow.
The shot list is the street outside with signage, the entrance or gate, inside down the floor, the units or bays, camera positions and the recorder, and the roof or ceiling. For a basement, add the staircase or ramp; we'll want to see how goods get down. Each step is explained in how a storage partnership works, and the full standard is on the partner programme page.
Approved partners may be listed on our Islamabad page, and some may be featured across the site. That's our decision after approval. We never publish a partner's exact address or phone number.
If you also own space in Lahore or Karachi, the city guides for Lahore and Karachi cover what's different there.
Have dry space in the twin cities? Apply
If your shed, basement or annexe stays dry in August, has a guard at night, cameras on the floor and an entrance a truck can reach, it can earn steady rental income from families on long postings. Start your application; the first step is four fields.
Facility partners
Put your empty space to work
We bring the customers, hold the agreement with them and pay you monthly for the space. You keep your building and your own customers. Nothing is agreed until we've spoken and walked the building.
Tell us about your facility
Name, number, city and the kind of space. The details and photographs come after, in your own time.
